Welcome to the Rebellion
by Fallon Skywalker
Summary: Post-Zero Hour, Agent Kallus finds himself on board the Ghost, and for the first time, among friends.


Kallus leaned against the cool durasteel of the Ghost, actually admiring it now that he was inside. He'd spent years chasing this elusive ship and it's crew. And now he was here, standing inside it, having been _rescued_ by it's crew. Even in his wildest dreams, Kallus never imagined this scenario would be the one that played out. Even when he became Fulcrum and knew the dangers of being discovered as a double agent, he never thought that Captain Syndulla and her crew would take him in. Why should they? He was their enemy.

But he wasn't. Kanan thanked him. The other Rebels welcomed him. One of the soldiers from the ground base on Atollon gave him a coldstim for his face, which was still swollen from Thrawn's interrogation. The mutual understanding, defeat, but kindness in the room was almost overwhelming. No one questioned his being there, no one noticed his Imperial uniform, the only thing some were concerned about was that he was wounded. After briefly talking to Kanan, he hung back. He observed the other Rebels, some injured, most still reeling from nearly dying. One base soldier in the corner of the cargo hold was crying into a friend's shoulder, a few other soldiers were trying to rest, clearly exhausted.

Kallus had overheard Kanan Jarrus' words to young Ezra Bridger. " _There's a future for us. One where we're all free. But we have to be the ones to make it happen."_

Thinking about the words made Kallus choke up a bit. He was part of this. Part of this wholesome, gritty, tooth and nail fight for _freedom_. For safety and stability and family. Thrawn's destruction of the Atollon base was devastating, but everyone, Captain Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, General Dodonna, they still had hope. They had a plan. They had been _prepared_ for the worst.

Kallus was still reeling with admiration and respect for these Rebels, so glad to finally be on the right side of this fight, when he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder, turning to see Garazeb Orrelios, _Zeb_ , standing behind him.

"Garazeb," Kallus greeted and Zeb almost smiled.

"Kallus," Zeb greeted back, and Kallus did smile.

"I'm...I'm so sorry for your losses today," Kallus said with hesitation, and Zeb shrugged, finally removing his hand from Kallus' shoulder.

"We've suffered worse," he admitted, and Kallus felt a wave of guilt rush over him. Zeb met his eyes meaningfully. "But we wouldn't have been able to match Thrawn at all without you." his words were so genuine and _proud_ that Kallus felt the guilt disappear almost instantly.

"I…" Kallus shook his head a little. "I wish there were more I could've done." he said, "Protected your base better, something."

Zeb shrugged. "Rebel bases aren't permanent," he told him, "We knew Atollon wouldn't be hidden forever. Don't beat yourself up about it." Zeb winced a little, looking over Kallus' face, bruised and bloodied, with worry. "Are you alright?"

Kallus glanced down to the coldstim in his hand and nodded. "I am. Thank you."

Zeb nodded and after a beat of awkward pause, he gestured toward the cockpit. "Hera uh...Hera wanted to talk with you."

Kallus looked slightly surprised but nodded. "Of course." he hated that he felt _nervous_ about having a one on one conversation with Captain Syndulla. He'd spent so long hunting her family down, he wouldn't blame her if she gave him a piece of her mind for it. He wanted to impress her, to show her that he was genuinely on their side now, that it was her crew that opened his eyes to how much more he could be doing. To the real tyranny of the Empire.

He followed Gara... _Zeb_ , to the cockpit of the Ghost, where Zeb left him, closing the door with only Hera and Kallus inside.

"Agent Kallus," Hera Syndulla said, spinning around in her pilot's chair, her smile warm and inviting as she gestured for him to take a seat beside her. He did, and Hera stuck her hand out to shake his.

"Captain Syndulla." he looked her over, immediately noticing the exhaustion and defeat in the back of her eyes, masked with stubbornness and kindness. "Zeb said you wished to speak with me?"

"I do." Hera said with a nod, lekku swinging. "I wanted to thank you, actually. Your work as Fulcrum is the reason we are still standing, and have lived to fight another day."

Kallus blinked with surprise. "But you lost your base. Thrawn won't play that cat and mouse game again, he knows what your team is fully capable of now, and it's partially on my behalf."

Hera shook her head. "Thrawn is a formidable foe, but now I know how _he_ works too. And I won't lose to him again."

Kallus admired Hera's determination. He nodded slowly, and she looked him over.

"You're injured." she stated. Kallus shrugged.

"Thrawn did not admire my role as Fulcrum. And the Empire does not take kindly to traitors." he said simply. Hera frowned.

"I'm sorry," she told him, and he brushed it off.

"Don't apologize. I'm honored to have aided you at all today," he met Hera's eyes sincerely, "And I'm eternally grateful you took me in. Your crew owes me nothing, and saving my life is an unrepayable debt."

Hera looked at him curiously. "Kallus," she said firmly, "You've saved my crew multiple times, you saved Sabine at the Flight Academy. You saved Zeb on the Geonosian moon, and you saved Kanan and Ezra on Lothal. I haven't forgotten that."

"I've also hunted you down and put your lives at risk numerous times before that," he said, shame filling his tone.

Hera smirked. "Ah, you give yourself too much credit, Agent. You never quite caught up with us."

Kallus smirked back. "Very true."

Hera smiled a little. "I appreciate that you took the 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' trope to heart. We need people like you. Your tactical skill and knowledge of Imperial protocol will be extremely valuable when we regroup with the fleet. I've already spoken to General Dodonna and you're going to be issued a pardon and offered a promotion once we decide our next steps. We need you on our team if we're going to defeat the Empire."

Kallus immediately knew why Hera Syndulla was so quickly rising in the ranks of the Rebellion's military. He'd only had one conversation with her and he felt like he genuinely could help them defeat the Empire. And he knew exactly what the Empire was capable of, and exactly how damn near impossible it would be to actually end its reign.

"I…" Kallus was both impressed and touched, and he suddenly felt emotion building in his chest. "You want me on your team?"

Hera nodded once. "Part of my crew."

Kallus was afraid his calm exterior would break if he said anything, so he simply nodded gratefully, making Hera smile.

"Great." she said with a nod. "I'm glad." she was interrupted when Ezra Bridger entered the cockpit, making a face at Kallus almost immediately.

"Kanan wanted me to ask you if we have anymore ration packs," Ezra told Hera, then adding a "Oh, hey Kallus," in passing.

"Jabba," Kallus said, earning him at first a glare and then smirk from Bridger.

"There should be more ration packs in storage by my cabin. He knows where." Hera instructed Ezra, who nodded and quickly left, heading back toward the galley to find Kanan.

"You should eat something," Hera told Kallus. "Go on."

Kallus nodded and stood to leave, hesitating a moment.

"Captain Syndulla," he began, and Hera interrupted him.

"Just Hera is fine." she told him kindly.

"Hera," he amended. "Thank you. For everything."

Hera smiled a bit. "Thank _you_. You risked everything to help us. You deserve to be here."

Kallus forced away the emotion but his voice still cracked a bit when he spoke again. "Thank you."

He quickly composed himself when he left, surprised that Zeb was waiting for him outside of the cockpit doors.

"There's food downstairs if you want any," Zeb mentioned, showing Kallus toward the ladder to take him down the stairs. "Just rations, but it's better than nothing."

Kallus nodded a little. "It's perfect." he said, "Thank you."

Zeb followed Kallus down to the hold where Kanan, Ezra and Sabine were splitting up ration packs for the soldiers. Sabine tossed Zeb two packs, one for him and one for Kallus, and they sat down on two crates as they ate, and Zeb looked at Kallus curiously.

"What did Hera want?" he asked, and Kallus broke his gaze from observing the room around him to look back at Zeb.

"She asked me to join your crew," he admitted, and Zeb laughed a happy if not surprised laugh.

"And?"

"And I accepted," Kallus said. He glanced over at Kanan, who had a knowing smirk on his lips.

Zeb nodded proudly. "No turning back now," He joked. "Welcome to the Rebellion, Kallus."

Kallus tried to hide his smile as he took another bite of the rather tasteless and potentially stale ration bar. He was exhausted, in a significant amount of pain, and had successfully ruined the career that he'd spent his entire life building, but he'd never been happier. Surrounded by these rag-tag rebels in the ship that had haunted his dreams for years, he realized that for the first time in maybe his life; he was home.


End file.
